Hey Ferny!

What'd you think of the Arsenal-United match? Obviously here in the states I haven't seen it yet ( :grumble grumble: ) but the fallout is even making the papers here (it must be big if it can push NASCAR to the 3rd page!). Ruud getting 3 games for spiking Cole, huh? :shock:

As an Arsenal fan, my view is completely unbiased, you understand.
I listened to it on the radio (the commentators don't take sides or mince their words) then watched the highlights that night. This match is known for being a bit rough, especially at Old Trafford. So what does the FA do? Let a homie ref take charge. One that's given Man Utd seven penalties in seven games at Old Trafford (eight in eight now). He was rubbish. He let the Man Utd players kick the Arsenal ones all over the pitch. Neville kept getting verbal warnings then finally got a yellow. What does he do next? Boots someone else and gets away with it. Ferdinand also spent most of the match running forty yards to complain to the ref about every tackle by and Arsenal player. The big talking points though are the red that wasn't, the penalty that shouldn't have been, the penalty that should've been, the Ruud "tackle", the Wenger comments and the pea soup mrgreen.

Red that wasn't - Ljungberg collected the ball and was running down the centre of the pitch and heading for the box. Ferdinand is chasing him and shoulder barges him. Ljungberg goes flying (they were running at pace). It should have been a straight red for Ferdinand. He was the last defender. The ref gives nothing.

The penalty that shouldn't have been - Rooney gets the ball just outside the Arsenal box. He dribbles into the box with his left approaching Campbell. Rooney flicks the ball to his right to go around Campbell but Campbell sticks out a left leg and quickly retracts it. Rooney falls to the ground. Replays show there was no contact. A penalty is given to Man Utd and Van Nistelrooy scores.

The penalty that should've been - Ronaldo gets the ball and runs into the box towards the end of the game. Cole does a rash tackle and takes down Ronaldo. No penalty given.

The Ruud tackle - Van Nistelrooy is standing still as Cole comes in to tackle. Van Nistelrooy lifts his right foot and runs it down Coles shin. This happens a couple of yards away from the linesman. Arsenal get a through-in. Van Nistelrooy is condemned by the pundits and media. A couple of days later Van Nistelrooy claims nothing happened. Later the same day he apologises and accepts an automatic three game ban. This means the first game that he misses is Tuesdays (yesterdays) League Cup match. A game he wasn't going to play in anyway. Effectively he gets a two game ban.

Wenger comments - In the post-match interview Wenger says he isn't happy with Van Nistelrooy's tackles and that is what we should expect from him from past performances (Van Nistelrooy is a known cheat and diver, except to Man Utd fans ). He also says he feels cheated and that the ref was rubbish (obviously no direct quotes here). He has to explain his comments to the FA but claims he said nothing wrong and won't retract anything.

Pea soup - The day after the match the media claim that an Arsenal player threw a cup of pea soup at Ferguson which meant he had to change from a suit into a tracksuit for post-match interviews. Man Utd refuse to comment. The FA are investigating.

I think too much is being made of it all, but also feel that it's about time the FA did something about the way Man Utd seem to get away with everything. I also think the FA are a waste of space and do exactly what their name stands for, sweet F.A..

You may like this. Click this link. In the top right is a small button which looks like this , click it and a new box will pop up. Select "Football Focus" from the drop down menu on that page nad click "Wenger denies 'cheat' accusation - 00:28mins". A clip will play.

After watching that, select "Match of the Day" from the drop down menu. Then you can click and watch "Wenger questions penalty decision - 02:05mins" and "Vieira: 'It was not a penalty' - 02:00mins."

I've been a Gunners fan for as long as I"ve been into football--lost some respect for them after last year's United match, but United is really going down the tubes. It's like they're getting too big for their own good, at least as far as their ego goes.

Over this past summer, I shelled out well over $100 for my wife and I to sit in the nosebleed seats (there were clouds lower than us, I think) and see United playing Bayern Munchen in the Champion's World Tour. I'm glad as hell I was wearing my Bayern jersey, because United was a f'ing joke. They brought their damn 3rd string players. :| All the real 'names' that the thousands of fans wearing United colors paid to see didn't even bother to make the trip, much less put in some minutes. :?

Yeah, they used Euro 2004 as the excuse, saying the players needed rest. What do they do after that? Play them in the "important" matches, completely contradicting themselves. Man Utd do it every year to spread the Man Utd religion. Just like Real Madrid and other clubs they go to far away places so they can sell more shirts. The truth being that they don't care about those fans, just their money.

At the moment Man Utd fans aren't happy that Glazer wants to buy the club. They're worried about him raising ticket prices. But they refuse to accept that this is what happens in business. That&#8217;s what they are now, not a club, a business. They float themselves on the stock market then complain when someone comes along wanting to buy the club. They also seem to ignore that he is hardly going to buy a club just to run it into the ground. He'll buy it to make money from it. To do that he'll have to get them winning stuff. So they won't actually lose out.